Location: Gustavia, St Barths
St. Barths, we have arrived!!
After departing Antigua around 4 pm, we set sail to St. Barths. My watch started at 11 pm and went until 2 am. The beauty of night passages is the stars aren’t like anything you’ve ever seen before. My family’s tradition while sailing was always to look for the first star and stay on deck until all the stars came out. Apparently, everyone on the boat saw a shooting star last night but for me. I looked for the entire three hours on shift and saw absolutely nothing; I cannot complain, though, because the Milky Way was in full bloom. We were able to shut off the engine and sail the entire way here. The waves crashing against the hulls, the ocean breeze, and the slight rocking to sleep made for a very calm overnight passage and my favorite parts of the trip.
When our second watch began at 8 am, we rose to see St.Barths on the horizon and enjoyed some great music and knot-tying lessons. With arrival around noon, we docked and began BA. BA is short for Boat Appreciation; it is a time to give back to Ocean Star and put her back into her full beauty. We clean our bunks, deep clean the galley, heads, salon, and deck. Moms would be super proud. Everyone got new sheets and scrubbed the floors spotless! Mom, don’t worry. I tucked in my fitted sheet too! Once Ocean Star was all shiny again, we were able to explore the island a little bit.
St. Barths is a French island, and they are known for their wealthy habitants and shops. This is a place where the wealthy come to visit, and apparently, you can find Beyonce here. While exploring the shops, we tried to go into some of the higher-end shops, but the store clerks took one look at a group of kids who look and smelled like they’d been on a boat for two weeks and didn’t like that very much. We will be walking to get some gelato and crepes before bed and a very busy day of surfing tomorrow!
My squeeze question of the night was, “Why did you choose to come on, Seamester?” My answer is because I wanted to feel like I earned where I arrived. I also wanted to feel connected to my parents as they sailed these islands exactly twenty years ago. I have been hearing about their beauty and cultural experiences and knew I had to explore! There are so many things we have learned so far, and we’re only going to experience more in the last week of the trip. Until then, thank you, mom, for letting me have the ability to attend this amazing and most memorable experience.